The Anterior Chain

[Thegiant_spooner]

@rj24

No. Just, no. Almost everything in this post is wrong.

For one, an SLJ is a standing long jump, which is a general test of leg and hip power and is most certainly bilateral. Since it’s bilateral, it’s definitely not specific to doing unilateral lifts. At this point I should probably ignore you, but I’ll press on.

Two, I’ve been training the squat far longer than I’ve trained unilateral movements, but my lower back has always held me back. Same for the DL. It’s not due to motivation, it’s due to the nature of the movement. You can’t argue with it, the squat puts a higher emphasis on the spinal extensors and unilateral lifts put more emphasis on the legs.

Three, the whole point I’ve been trying to make is that it’s all about leg power. And all of the examples of pros and cons I gave were completely solid. I don’t know how you could say otherwise.

I said that unilateral loading allows more of a load on the working leg, puts less load on the trunk, engages the hip rotators, abductors, and adductors, and uses less overall muscle mass so CNS drain isn’t as high. There is nothing wrong with any of those statements.

And the specificity of unilateral lifts is not found in balance and I never claimed it was. The specificity is found in the ability to load the muscles of each leg more heavily than one is capable of doing in a bilateral lift. The other benefit is increased hip muscle activation. I never said anything about balance.

Please, just read what I’ve written and I wouldn’t need to keep rehashing this. I’ve laid out my case and I’ve done it quite well. All the problems at this point are due to a lack of careful reading and an abundance of misunderstanding.

Must say, everything you’ve said does make sense…

To be fair, for a lot of people, including myself, who have quite small joints/ inserts, I have always wondered whether the back pain I often suffer from bilateral squats was entirely necessary. The only time I can probably say bilateral squats would be more effective in the strength needed for handling power movements like the clean which are probably the best, or second best after snatch, for starts, no? I’m just going by popular theory…not a sports scientist

but what you say about the hip and leg load I have to agree with just as a matter of logic. It probably would take more patience for one’s ego as the weights being lifted will be comparatively less than it would on standard squats.

Major benefits in my eyes:

1. hip strength
2. posture (the torso can afford to be more erect which in turn is better for core, which surely counteracts the absence of extra strain from heavy bilateral squats?)
3. what RJ said about individual leg hypertrophy and power, in the same way bounds and single leg hops help provide more power than double legged plyos (although bilateral plyos do have their place for general power)

the 4th point I am having trouble expressing exactly what I mean but those are my two cents on this matter anyway.